Is This the Future of Food?

Last month in our print magazine I wrote a column about the amazing work going on at Hampton Creek. Josh Tetrick and his team are making incredible discoveries and advances in product development around plant-based food replacement that allows for feeding our planet despite the problems in food safety, population growth, vanishing farmlands, global warming, etc. Check this out if you don't believe the weather issues. I find lots of people who mistakenly think our weather changes associated with global warming are a benefit to our shrinking planetary parcel of arable land and drought issued. They'd be wrong.

Like Hampton Creek, here's another startup, born in San Francisco, from Rob Rhinehart. It's called Soylent, and it's getting a lot of attention. I think it takes all the love out of eating, and it reminds me of the least enjoyable aspects of personal wellbeing. I enjoy sharing meals with people—and pounding a meal replacement isn't my idea of a good time. That said, it is an amazing move forward in food history; Rhinehart has found a niche among diners who can save money and time, and if this is as hyper-nutritive as it appears to be, it would also be part of a solution for global wellness. Could you drink this all week long and do restaurants just on weekends as Rhinehart does?